In keeping with today's World Environment Day, DORDA announces the establishment of the Sustainability Practice Group. The new practice group brings together experts from various legal fields to provide targeted support to companies in their efforts to operate successfully and sustainably at the same time.

Vienna, 5 June 2020 – Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important topic in almost all areas of business life. It includes environmental issues, social aspects and sustainable corporate management (also known as ESG criteria - Environment/Social/Governance). Buzzwords here include "sustainable finance", "sustainable investment", "sustainable construction", "renewable energies" and "corporate social responsibility". The associated legal aspects are not limited to a single area of law and include not only environmental law and public commercial law, but also banking and capital market law, real estate law, labour law, corporate law, insurance law and consumer protection law.

Advice from a single source

The DORDA Sustainability Practice Group is intended to ensure comprehensive support for its clients. Against this background, experts from all legal fields work together with a shared mission: To help companies use their resources in a sustainable, responsible and reasonable way and thus to operate successfully in the long term. For example, the lawyers help identify ESG risks in M&A transactions, adapt to ESG compliance regulations and implement sustainable real estate projects and sustainable financing projects.

"While sustainability offers companies many opportunities, it also presents them with completely new challenges. It is therefore essential to have a powerful team that is familiar with all facets of the topic and can deal with it not only theoretically but also practically," says Andreas Zahradnik, partner und co-initiator of the Sustainability Practice Group.

Holistic support approach

"The already tight regulatory framework is also becoming increasingly tight in the area of sustainability. We therefore expect that sooner or later almost all companies of a certain size will have to deal with the topic. So it pays off for companies from all sectors to be among the first to get involved, as long as the market can still be defined," adds Christian Schöller, senior associate and co-initiator of the Sustainability Practice Group. "We are reliably on their side to ensure compliance with the legal environment."

Whether in business, the NGO sector or the government: legal expertise on sustainability is increasingly in demand everywhere. DORDA is responding to this growing interest and at the same time sending a clear signal for a society in which sustainability and profitability go hand in hand.

Further information on the Sustainability Practice Group and selected previous activities of its members is summarised here.

Moreover, next week a new episode of DORDA's legal podcast "Clarity Talk on Air" will be published, in which Christian Schöller talks about the newly founded practice group.